This was the phone that was finally going to make the Windows
Phone OS a viable contender against Apple's iOS and Google's
Android, they said. The "smartphone betxa
test was over," they said.

A few short months later, we learned the
Lumia 900 was dead in the water. Its hardware wasn't
compatible with Windows Phone 8, the new version of the operating
system that was set to launch in the fall. In short, Lumia 900
owners and owners of other Windows Phones wouldn't be eligible
for the latest and greatest features found in Microsoft's best
mobile OS to date.

Luckily, Microsoft promised to keep those people happy with a
software update to the older Windows Phones called Windows Phone 7.8. That version is
supposed to bring some Windows Phone 8 features like a
fully-customizable home screen to the Lumia 900 and other
last-generation Windows Phones.

But with all the attention on the new generation of Windows
Phones running Windows Phone 8, a lot of people (including us)
completely forgot about Windows Phone 7.8
until Paul Thurrott brought it up this week. The fact that
Microsoft hasn't mentioned Windows Phone 7.8 in about five months
and its refusal to comment on the update since then is a scary
omen that it may never arrive.

Here's Thurrott:

Microsoft, silence is no way to treat early adopters, the
people who are your most loyal customers. It is the most
disrespectful thing you can do, in fact. Combined with the weird
and continued holes in your ecosystem strategy—the
inability to get Xbox Video content on Windows Phone
8 as only one obvious example—it’s unclear to me why
you think anyone should support you or your mobile
platform.

He's right.

Microsoft's intentions were good when it announced Windows
Phone 7.8. It clearly didn't want to punish early Windows Phone
adopters. But now it just feels like Microsoft was misleading
Windows Phone owners to avoid a bunch of complaints. If Windows
Phone 7.8 is coming, Microsoft needs to tell its customers when.
If it's not coming, Microsoft needs to bite the bullet and admit
it can't fulfill its promise.

Anything less would be an insult to those who rushed out
and bought a Lumia 900 or other Windows Phone earlier this
year.